NextGen Climate Action is a Super PAC focused on giving support to environmentally active candidates. It was founded by Tom Steyer and is led by Dan Lashof. NextGen Climate Action is the political arm of NextGen Climate, which was founded in 2013 as a 501(c)(4).

The mission statement of the association is:

“

...we act politically to prevent climate disaster and preserve American prosperity. Working at every level, we are committed to supporting candidates, elected officials and policymakers across the country that will take bold action on climate change—and to exposing those who deny reality and cater to special interests.[1]

In 2013, NextGen Climate Action spent over $2 million on TV ads, as well as other digital and field efforts.[4]

Background

The NextGen Climate Action Super PAC is part of the 20 person operation of NextGen Climate, which also encompasses a research organization and a political advocacy nonprofit. The group employs polling, research and social media to find climate-sensitive voters and spends millions of dollars in television advertising to try to persuade them. This young Super PAC, founded in 2013, is already among the biggest environmental pressure groups in the United States.[5]

Leadership

Thomas Steyer was the founder and co-senior managing partner of Farallon Capital Management. CNN has described him as "California's hedge fund king."[6]

Steyer and his wife Kathryn Taylor have four children. They have pledged to donate half their fortune to charity.[7] They own homes in San Francisco and Lake Tahoe, as well as a 2,000-acre ranch in the coastal town of Pescadero.[8] According to the Center for Public Integrity, Steyer gave more than $11.1 million to his two Super PACs in 2013 -- the most of any individual, union or company during 2013.[9]

COO

In April 2014, Steyer hired Dan Lashof as Chief Operating Officer of NextGen. Lashof was previously employed by the National Resources Defense Council. While at the NRDC, Lashof helped write the first cap-and-trade bill. "At the end of the day, I don’t care how we reduce carbon, but we have to do it. The mechanism may vary from state to state," he said.[10]

2014 elections

NextGen Climate Action expected to spend about $100 million on 2014 elections, and $50 million of that sum was expected to be raised by Steyer to match his own $50 million contribution. Overall, the group spent around $70 million for the elections on November 4, 2014. Much of this was spent on media, including attack ads against candidates that will not take action to address climate change.[11]

Falling short

According to a report in the summer of 2014, Steyer had fallen far short on his pledge to raise $50 million in outside money to make climate change a midterm-election weapon against the GOP.[12] As of July 2014, the group had raised just $1.2 million from other donors toward that goal.[13]